Avoid Gettng Sideswiped by Staying on Course

I ride a motorcycle. Just a standard 750cc bike, that gets me from point A to point B and so far so good. It’s managed to give me scenic rides for 8 years. I took a ride yesterday and when you take a ride out there on the public roads, you are out there with everyone else, racing along. You need to make it to point B, intact. You are competing on the roadways with cars, SUVs, 18 wheelers. You are tiny compared to every other vehicle with you on the three lane highway. On the motorcycle, you have to be hypersensitive to everything around you. Not only are your eyes glued on the road in front of you, you have to scan the lanes for these drivers that aren’t seeing you at all because you’re so small compared to them. It’s like a chess game. It’s super concentration. You have to be 5 moves ahead of your opponent and be ready for any unexpected moves. Like the black, tinted windows, $10K rimmed blinged car that almost sideswiped me yesterday. Yes, I noticed that car. He saw me and thankfully swerved back into his lane. That was close. Now I had to keep an eye on him too and he was all over the place!

Running the jewelry business is the same thing. Concentrating on the road before you. Staying five moves ahead. Watching out for distractions. And if you work from a home studio, there’s plenty of distractions. So how do you stay sharp, get the work done and not let these diversions hinder you from getting to point B?

• Get yourself on a schedule. Set it up on your desktop or get a notebook to write one up. Put everything down you need to get done from what time you’re waking up to what time you’re finished. Schedule in breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The big CEOs of corporate America do this. You’re the CEO of your jewelry business. Pay attention to the schedule of what goes on between the meals. When you see it in writing, it gives it more purpose than trying to keep in your head. I will guarantee this, distractions will interfere with that list in your head.
• Schedule the e-mail check in. Make it for every three hours or after breakfast, after lunch, before the day’s end. Turn off that e-mail reminder on your computer. If there’s an e-mail that’s so urgent or an emergency and you aren’t answering it immediately, they will call you on the phone. They will.
• Turn off the cell phone. If you don't have a land line, then schedule the cell phone check with the e-mail check.
  
• Schedule your household duties, doctor’s appointments before and after your work day. Your workday may not be an 8 hour day. If it’s a 3 hour day, then stick to the work schedule for 3 hours. Maybe your work day is from 8am to 1pm. Then schedule it as such. Stick to it.

Get into scheduled work habits. It gets you into a rhythm, setting goals and meeting them. You start planning five moves ahead. Pay attention to what is stopping you from getting it done and find a way around the obstacle. The jewelry world is huge out there. We all want to get to point B, without getting sideswiped. Stay the course and stay on schedule.

Letting Go Part 1

Jewelry designers are a fierce bunch. Passionate, articulate, intense, talented beyond. I am amazed at the glittering, sparkly fantasies they create. And every single one of them comes up with the most amazing ideas and go for it. And if they’re lucky, they get to sell their jewelry for a living. But a lot of jewelry designers are still working full time and working under the Ott light in their studios till the wee hours because they just have to get this idea out, this idea that’s been in their head since lunchtime, since yesterday, since last week. The idea is born: a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of earrings.

They go and start selling their masterpieces. First at the local craft fairs, street fairs and festivals. They get interest, they get buzz, a blurb in Lucky magazine! They get into the New York Gift Fair! Whew! How will they ever keep up the pace??

At some point, you need to find some help. Find someone who knows where you’re coming from and can meet your needs. It’s very hard to let go. You don’t want anyone stealing your ideas, You don’t want anyone pilfering your designs. You don’t know if anyone could possibly be as good as you in making your creations. You have to find someone you can trust. Someone you can spill your secrets to and they’ll be able to run with it and make your jewelry design business shine under your direction. You are the boss, you are the one who dictates what you want and how you want to execute your work, your aesthetics, your vision. When you find that trusted team and delegate the production, you will just open up to new ideas, new designs, new growth. But how do you find someone you can trust?

Jewelry assembly is a tricky subject. Will my necklaces, bracelets, earrings not be mine if someone else is handcrafting them just like I would? Is it still mine, if not made by my own hand?

Let’s take an example of what hand made, HANDcrafted means in the word, haute couture. It is a protected name in France and what is decided by the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, is that a dress is made from high quality, expensive fabric and sewn in extreme attention to detail by HAND by the most experienced and capable seamstresses. They use time consuming, exacting techniques that are executed by HAND. THEN the design house must follow these rules:

• Design made to order for private clients with one or more fittings
• Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least 15 people
• Produce at least 35 outfits, twice a year for the French press that includes daywear and evening wear.

Does Karl Lagerfeld, Yves St Laurent, Pierre Balmain, Christian Lacroix, Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Valentino, et al, hand make 35 dresses twice a year by themselves? No. AND they have AT LEAST 15 people working for THEM. They have the creme de la creme of seamstresses, embroiderers, milliners, pattern cutters all have had their hands on that one dress. Their most trusted team, people that have been with them for years, loyal employees that with the wave of the couturier’s hand, know exactly what he or she wants and away they go to hand sew, hand construct (produce) that collection. With the designer’s name on it.

Find that team for yourself. Find a loyal, trusted team, your own atelier that will work with you and give you the help you need. Start small and build the trust. Please read Letting Go Part 2 and I'll let you know how to let go of studio clutter!